How the PM unravelled

AS he paused on the steps of Downing Street to give a little wave to the press pack after achieving a surprise general election victory in the early hours of May 8 last year, David Cameron must have been pinching himself. For not even he could have predicted that he would be returning to Number 10 not only victorious but with an outright majority.

With the polls consistently putting the Labour Party ahead it is little surprise the Prime Minister hailed it the “sweetest victory of all”.

In his victory speech, Cameron said: “I truly believe we are on the brink of something very special in this country.” Now, almost 12 months on, those words must seem like a dim and distant memory because for all the optimism that came with his victory that ended with the resignations of the Labour and Lib Dem leaders, there has been little in the way of delivery.

It has been an annus horribilis for the Government which, despite facing the weakest Labour opposition in generations, is already trailing in the polls. So when and why did it all begin to unravel? It started even before the first vote was cast in the election.

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It was the one unscripted moment in an otherwise impeccably choreographed campaign. But for all the careful campaigning, the Tories were a party unprepared for victory.

Suddenly the Lib Dems were no longer a barrier, which meant the party could finally get on with doing all the things it had been forced to give up for the previous five years in coalition.

You would think that would be a good thing but it meant policies that had previously been the subject of intense scrutiny between the coalition partners behind closed doors were now given a public airing.

And the plans, such as those put forward by Chancellor George Osborne to axe tax credits and disability benefits, did not always go down well even on the Conservative backbenches.

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Prime Minister David Cameron

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Although it is unlikely Cameron misses his side-kick Nick Clegg, he probably misses the healthy coalition majority that spared him from the bumpy ride he now endures every time there is a crunch vote that tests his party’s slim majority.

As a result, the Government has suffered a string of bad defeats at the hands of its disgruntled backbenchers who have even threatened to hold the Government to ransom following the ill-advised distribution of the £9million pro-EU propaganda leaflet to every home in Britain.

Last May’s election victory also put Europe back on the agenda. Having made an in-out referendum the centrepiece of his manifesto, the PM has been forced to embark on a damaging fight to keep the UK in the EU.

Just like John Major more than 20 years ago, Cameron now presides over a party hopelessly split over Europe within months of an election victory and a slim Commons majority that makes it vulnerable to defeats by opposition ambushes and backbench rebellions.

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He has even lost some of his closest allies over the issue. Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, is one of Cameron’s closest friends yet within hours of the Prime Minister returning from Brussels with his half-baked EU deal in February, Gove had declared his support for Brexit.

Less of a surprise was Boris Johnson’s decision also to back Brexit. But it was perhaps Iain Duncan Smith’s decision to quit the Cabinet over the Chancellor’s welfare cuts that has been most damaging.

The cuts were “indefensible” he said in his resignation letter, and aimed at the poor “because they don’t vote for us”. The intervention led to the Treasury announcing that the disability cuts would be “kicked into the long grass”.

Now Osborne has a £4billion black hole in his budget and his leadership hopes have been left in tatters. Cameron told friends before the election he hoped to remain in post until 2019.

Now he could be gone before the end of the year. So less than a year after that victory he faces the prospect of losing the referendum, losing Scotland, presiding over the death of British steel and losing his job. What a difference a year makes!